


Scarecrow

by basicallyinsanedog



Category: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: Blushing, Cheering Up, Confusion, Crying, Dancing, Darkness, Embarrassment, F/M, Fear, Halloween, celebration, first halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27328159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basicallyinsanedog/pseuds/basicallyinsanedog
Summary: One Shot.Sally's first Halloween. She gets scared and runs off to the graveyard to be alone, only to realize.... she may not be so alone after all.
Relationships: Sally/Jack Skellington
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Scarecrow

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be posted yesterday... uhg. I apologize for this being late! Happy Halloween everyone.

This was it.

It was finally here.

Her first Halloween. 

Sally was very excited for this, to say the least. She knew how important Halloween was here, how it was the one thing everyone spent 364 days a year preparing for. She knew how much Halloween meant to everyone, and she admired the way they all tried their very best and put forth all their effort in making the holiday as terrifying- but fun- as possible. 

And she was thrilled that she was finally going to get to witness it. 

Sally looked up from the book she was reading and glanced across the room to the clock. It was almost 6:30, and she could see from the orange light shining through her window that the sun was beginning to set. It was almost time.

She shut her book and stood up off her bed, careful to not look out her window as she walked across the room to place the novel back on its shelf. As excited for tonight as she was, she had no idea what to expect, and wanted all of it to remain a surprise. So she avoided looking outside today. 

The ragdoll left her room, walking straight down the large curved ramp and turning the corner to head into the laboratory. Doctor Finkelstein was already in there, sitting in his wheelchair off to the side at a large metal table. He seemed to be tinkering with something, but Sally couldn’t quite make out what it was. 

“Horrible evening, Doctor”, she greeted as she approached, smiling. He turned to her momentarily, caught slightly off guard by her cheerful tone. Normally she wasn’t this happy to see him. 

Turning back to his work, he replied, “Evening, Sally. Do you need something?” 

She tilted her head. “Oh, no. I was just wondering if you wanted me to make you something to eat before I leave.” The doctor nodded. 

“Yes, I suppose you should-...wait..” He turned towards her again. “ _ -leave _ ?” 

Sally hesitated at the change in his tone, suddenly feeling nervous. “....Well, yes. It’s Halloween tonight, remember? The celebration? I was just-”

“You’re not going.” He cut her off. “And that’s final.” 

The smile fell off her face. “w-what?” 

“You’re not going, Sally. You know the rules. You are  _ not _ to leave this tower for any reason, especially not alone. I know you’re not ready for Halloween. You are to stay here tonight.” 

“But...I thought..”

“No buts, Sally!” He snapped. “Don’t even try and argue. You’re staying here, understand?” 

Sally closed her eyes, furrowing her brows and looking away. She had hoped that maybe he would let her go out tonight, seeing how big of a deal Halloween is. Then again, she should’ve known better. 

“...Alright...I-I understand..” 

“Good. Now, how about you run along and make some soup for me, then? I’m starving.” 

She nodded obediently, opening her eyes but not making eye contact. She felt bitter, disappointed and sad. 

“Of course…right away…” 

The ragdoll turned around, leaving the lab and heading straight to the kitchen, not looking back.

\---

Sally shut the door to the kitchen behind her as she entered, leaning on it for a moment as she went over in her head what exactly just happened. She really hadn’t expected him to react like that. And it hurt. 

She shook her head. She had been waiting far too long for this night to let Finkelstein ruin it! No no, she was going out there- one way or another. 

Sally stood up straight and walked across the room to where her cauldron was, reaching into the cabinet as she passed to pull out the necessary ingredients. But on her way, she grabbed an  _ extra _ ingredient. Deadly Nightshade. 

If the Doctor wasn’t willing to let her go on his own, she had no choice. She had to poison him. There was no other way. 

It wasn’t the  _ worst _ thing to do… after all, it only knocked him out for a few hours, plus, this definitely wasn’t the first time she’s done this. It should make just enough time for Sally to slip away and possibly even make it back before he woke up. Maybe...if she got lucky...he’d never even know she was gone. 

She began mixing her soup together, throwing in all her necessary ingredients and even adding an extra spice here or there. After making sure it was ready to be mixed, Sally opened the Deadly Nightshade bottle and plopped a large helping right on top. Grabbing her spoon, she mixed inside the cauldron, but she knew she wasn’t quite done. The scent of poison was very strong, and would be recognized right away. 

To cover it up, she quickly added some frogs breath to her deadly concoction. The nightshade smell might be strong, but this was definitely stronger, and overpowered it immediately. 

Feeling satisfied with the meal she had prepared, Sally took a large spoon and filled a bowl with it. Lastly, she added a seasoning of tiny spider eyes on top for good measure. 

  
  


“Doctor? Your soup is ready” She called as she re-entered the lab. He looked up from what he was doing, pushing the experiment away to make room. 

“Finally! Bring it right over here, my dear.” He instructed. Sally did as she was told and brought the bowl over, placing it down in front of him. The Doctor picked up his spoon. “Thank you. That will be all, for now. You’re excused.” She nodded to him, turning around as he brought the spoon up to his lips and took a sip. He didn’t suspect anything. 

_ And, 3….2…..1… _

_ Thud!  _

Sally smiled deviously at the sound. She whipped back around and sure enough, Finkelstein’s head had hit the table. He was knocked out cold. 

She ran over and grabbed a blanket that was folded on a nearby stand, and brought it over to drape around him, so that he wouldn’t be cold, and more comfortable. After all, he could be asleep for a while. 

_ At last, that was over with _ . She glanced at the clock- 7:05. The sun had set by now, and it was finally time to go. 

Confidently, the ragdoll strolled over to the door. But she found herself hesitating before opening it. 

_ “Remember, Sally,” _ she whispered to outloud,  _ “this is the night you’ve been waiting for. Everyone’s favorite night of the year. You’ve already poisoned the Doctor….there’s no backing out now” _

Finishing her thought and taking a breath, she finally pulled the door open, flinching as the breeze hit her. She felt excited, yet, strangely on edge. Almost like..something here didn’t….feel quite right. But she tried her best to push that away and ignore it, as she moved forward, beginning her walk towards town.

  
  


\---

  
  
  


The wind was awfully chilly tonight. The sky was unusually dark, too. Sally looked around. Everything in town felt… different.

Except for a creaky gate or distant scream cutting through the air every so often, it was completely quiet. Too quiet. The moon above her was round and full, and she couldn’t help but momentarily stare as shadows danced around it’s bright surface. 

She wandered the streets, glancing nervously around her as she went. The more she walked, the more uneasy she felt.

_ ‘Where is everyone?’ _ , she wondered. From what she could barely make out squinting in the shadows surrounding her, there didn’t seem to be anyone else around. _ ‘And, more importantly, where exactly am I?’.  _

When Sally left the tower, her plan was to head straight into town square. So, that was where she had tried to go- but unfortunately, her only light source was the moon, which didn’t provide too much on it’s own. And now it seemed she couldn’t tell where she was. 

_ ‘Oh, dear… perhaps I took a wrong turn....’ _

A sudden movement behind her caught the corner of her eye. She whipped around quickly for a better view, but saw nothing. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” She called. No response. Only darkness. Sally shivered, fear crawling up her back. It felt like someone was watching her. But from which direction? Was something staring right at her? Or...was it… behind her..? She turned around again, making a circle, but she still didn’t see anything. Or anyone. Confused and afraid, she continued walking. 

But she had hardly been walking very far, when she heard another noise. But this time, she could tell- it was  _ behind  _ her. Sally stopped, frozen. She was too frightened to turn around. But.. maybe whatever it was, she didn’t need to be afraid of it? Perhaps it was just another citizen or… a cat or something. She gathered up all of her courage, and was about to turn around, when something grabbed her arm. 

Sally shrieked loudly and ripped her arm away from it as fast as she could. The thing let go of her immediately, to her surprise, causing her to stumble forward as she tried to get away. As soon as she got proper footing on the ground again, Sally raced out of there at full speed, running into the darkness and not looking back. 

She wasn’t quite sure where she was going, or where she was. But eventually, she became exhausted and had to stop. She crouched over with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. Once she could breathe again, the ragdoll stood up straight and finally looked around. Wherever she was, it was much clearer. The sky seemed brighter here, and finally she could see better. When she looked closer at what was ahead, she finally recognized it and knew why it looked familiar: it was the gate to the graveyard. Sally had been to the graveyard a few times in the past. She found it to be a rather comforting spot, where she knew she could be alone. People didn’t seem to visit there often. And if there was one thing she needed right now, it was to be alone. 

She shivered again as another breeze passed through her long hair. Without hesitating, she walked straight up the small hill and through the gate. 

Even if it was darker than normal, everything else seemed the same here. The tombstones where all the same as she remembered and the spiral hill stood tall and proud where it always was. The moon was shining brightly above it. 

Sally strolled over to a gravestone and sat down on top of it. She sighed, playing with her hair. Tonight was supposed to be fun! So why was she just.... afraid? 

‘ _ Maybe there's something wrong with me.. _ ’ she wondered, ‘ _ maybe I just..don't belong here…’  _ Tears started forming in her eyes. ‘ _ I’ll never find my place here… but what am I to do? This is the only home I have...it’s all I’ve got. Surely, I can’t just.. Go away? Leave? _ ’ She began to sob, getting off the tombstone and sliding down it so that she was now sitting on the ground, crying. ‘ _ It’s not like anyone would miss me if I did… I don't.. have… a single...friend..’  _

Sally covered her face with her hands, making her cloth-like skin damp. She was very upset. Tonight was supposed to be the greatest thing and yet, she never felt so out of place. 

A few minutes passed before she looked up again, still weeping. At first glance everything seemed the same, and she thought for a second about maybe getting up soon to try and make her way back to town. But then she noticed something. Something that almost made her cry harder. Movement. Sally wasn’t alone like she thought she was, and once again her fear returned. Someone was walking towards her. She could tell now, it was a figure. A very… tall and skinny figure. She almost thought they looked… familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. She squished herself back against the tombstone, shaking. 

As the figure came nearer, she was able to get a better look at him, and could see him more clearly now. This definitely wasn’t someone she recognized- in fact, Sally had never seen this guy at all. He was a tall, scarecrow looking man. His body, arms and legs were all made out of straw, and he had a pumpkin head that appeared to have features carved out of it, in a sort of jack-’o-lantern style. He wore a purple shirt, closed in the middle held together by stitches. The ends of his long sleeves were ragged and ripped, as were the tails that draped down from the back of his shirt. 

He approached her, holding his hands behind his back. Sally pushed further against the stone, trembling in fear.

“Please…” she cried, “Don’t...hurt me..” 

The strange scarecrow man didn’t reply. He just blinked, slowly. Sally sat there, unsure what to do. Was he going to try and scare her? Well, he was already doing  _ that _ . Should she just make a run for it, maybe? Or just stay put? 

Before she had time to figure out what to do, the scarecrow man removed one of his hands from behind his back and held it out to her. He was offering to help her up. 

Sally looked back and forth between his outstretched hand and his face. Her mouth went agape, as the gesture took her off guard. But.. maybe this was a good thing? It was certainly a more friendly thing to do… maybe this mysterious scarecrow man wasn’t out to get her after all. But then again, did she really trust him enough to take his hand? 

She sniffed, wiping a tear off her cheek. It felt rude to just sit there and ignore him. Besides, had he really done anything wrong yet? What reason did she  _ really _ have to be afraid right now? People in Halloween Town were typically very sweet anyway. 

After hesitating one more moment, Sally shakily reached out and took his hand. It was exceptionally larger than hers. He squeezed her hand gently and pulled up right away, helping the ragdoll to her feet. Being unbalanced on her leaf filled legs, she stumbled for a moment, knocking into his chest before she pushed herself away and stood up straight. 

Now that she was on her feet, Sally could get a better look at his face. She must admit, for someone who looked like a scarecrow, he was strangely… attractive. Her eyes widened a bit as she stared at him, unsure what to do now. She tried to swallow the knot in her throat. 

“Who...wh-who are you…?” she squeaked out. But again, the man didn’t reply. Instead, he let go of one of her hands and brought his up to her face, using his thumb to gently wipe the tears out from under her eyes. Sally blinked. She could feel her face heating up at his touch, her cheeks going pink but her expression remained shocked. Who  _ is _ this guy? The way he ran his thumb down her cheek was awfully.. soothing. Strangely enough, he was starting to make her feel better- and yet he hadn’t even spoken two words. 

He moved away from her face and reached down to take her hands again. Sally just gawked at him, still not knowing what to do. Seriously, who is this guy? Can’t he at least give her his name? 

She was about to open her mouth to speak again, but she was interrupted by another noise, coming from the direction of town. Music. Both her and the scarecrow man looked up. He turned his head to glance at the graveyard exit momentarily, before he once again flipped his attention back to Sally.   
_ ‘That must be the band playing…’  _ she figured _ , ‘I knew there had to be others around..! Somewhere..’  _

The music itself was slow, and eerie sounding, but also very peaceful and quite pretty. She turned back to the man in front of her. Maybe she could use this as an excuse to leave? That the music... meant she needed to go back to town now? She opened her mouth to say something, but found no words wanted to come out. Part of her almost felt like, despite how afraid she had been, she didn’t want to leave this man. Just from the way he was acting and how he treated her- helping her up and such- made Sally almost feel safe. 

Suddenly, he stood up straight, catching her attention. He took one of her hands and brought it up around his neck, holding the other in his own, then placed his free hand around her waist. Sally straightened her back, her face flushing a bit more. She knew what this was- a dancing pose. He wanted to dance with her. To the music that was drifting in from town. And that’s exactly what he did. 

He took a few swift steps backward. Sally, in too much awe to do anything else, followed his lead. They moved backward, then came forward again. He turned to the side, spinning the two of them in a circle before going backwards again. He repeated the same movements, all to the tune of the music, and Sally followed them, staring at him with wide eyes the whole time. Her mouth was open in shock. One minute, he had been simply helping her off the ground, and now, they were  _ dancing _ . Together. It gave Sally butterflies. She couldn’t help but note that he seemed to be a rather good dancer, oddly enough. Meanwhile she was struggling with simply trying not to step on his feet as they moved, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

He spun them around again one last time, dipping her down as the music died. She tightened her grip around his collar so as to not fall, though it probably didn’t matter anyway, since he had a good hold on her himself. He brought her back up after a few seconds and Sally blushed as she stood up straight, smoothing out her dress and flicking some hair back over her shoulder. Then she turned to look back at him. The scarecrow man was just standing there now, watching her. 

He moved closer, tilting his head. Sally stared back at him. He moved his hand toward her, and she noticed, reaching out to grab it. She was about to, when suddenly, a loud voice exploded over a megaphone into the air, startling the both of them. 

**_“Places, Everyone!”_ **

The scarecrow man blinked suddenly. He quickly glanced from Sally, towards town then back at Sally. He nodded to her once, then turned around and began walking away. Sally watched him leave, gasping as she reached out. She didn’t want him to leave, not yet! 

“W-wait!” she called, “don’t go..!” 

But he was already gone.

\---

  
  


Sally crouched behind a tree, watching all the other citizens do their thing. After the scarecrow man left her in the graveyard , she had found no other reason to stay there, so she had headed back into town. Upon arriving, she discovered everyone was in town square, taking part in some sort of ‘celebration’. They were singing some sort of song. Now  _ this _ was more like it. Not knowing any of the lyrics or what to do, Sally had taken a seat off to the side behind a tree to watch. This was all so interesting, everyone looked very happy. 

_ “This is Halloween, everybody scream!”  _ _  
_ _  
_ _ “Won’t you please make way for a very special guy?” _

Sally watched in amazement as a man tugged on a rope connected to a straw horse, bringing it inside town as he marched toward the fountain. There seemed to be something ontop the horse, but she didn’t quite have a good enough view to see what it was. She stood up, peering further around the tree.   
When she saw what it was on the back of the horse, she brought her hand up and covered her mouth instantly in surprise. It was him. The scarecrow man. 

He picked up a torch and lit himself on fire, dancing and spinning on top the horse and everyone continued singing around him. Sally was completely frozen. If this man was important enough to be the center of the Halloween celebration, why had she never seen him before?! Who IS this guy?!? 

Sally continued watching in complete awe. The scarecrow man did a flip, diving straight into the fountain. 

_ “In this town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin’s song”  _

She leaned forward, waiting to see the orange of the pumpkin head rising out of the fountain. Maybe if she paid close attention, she could figure out who he was and maybe even get the chance to speak with him. 

The water rippled, and a figure rose out of it. But. 

It wasn’t the scarecrow man.

Sally felt her heart stop. It was Jack. Jack Skellington. 

He rose out of the fountain and everyone cheered around him. Sally slunk back behind the tree and covered her face. Jack, Jack SKELLINGTON, their KING… the man Sally knew she really admired, and the one she had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN about because she was so focused on the mysterious scarecrow… he.. WAS the scarecrow!

She almost couldn’t believe it. Yet there he was… plain as day. 

As Jack stepped down from the fountain, people crowded around him, showering him in praise. Sally just watched from a distance, not knowing what to do at all. Should she go up to him? Ask him about it? But what if it wasn’t her place to approch him..? 

“-Everyone, everyone!” the Mayor shouted, “head to the town hall! We shall go over the awards and prizes there!” 

She watched as everyone turned and followed him towards the large building, chatting it up and laughing as they went. Sally almost wished she could be apart of it.

As everyone went along and passed her, she noticed… someone wasn’t among them. Jack. She turned around just in time to see him slinking away in the opposite direction. She was confused. Where was he going? and.. . why? 

She wasn’t sure but, she decided then and there that she needed to talk to him. She needed some answers. Taking a deep breath, she got up, and sneakily followed him. 

They were almost back toward the pumpkin patch before she decided to speak up. Sally was planning on silently following him, but, unsure with where he was going or when he’d stop, she made her move. 

“.....Jack!” the ragdoll called his name. He stopped walking, giving Sally a chance to catch up. She walked up behind him, hands behind her back. The skeleton turned around. At first, his facial expression looked a bit surprised, maybe even annoyed. But as soon as he saw who it was that called to him, he smiled. 

“Oh, horrible evening, Sally. It’s nice to-”   
“-It was you, wasn’t it? In the graveyard.” she felt a little bad interupting him, but, right now she just...needed answers. Jack’s smile fell, but came back only a second later. 

“Yes. It was. I was just on my way to my post for the beginning of our song, that’s all. The graveyard is a bit of a shortcut.” 

Sally’s face went pink again as she spoke to him. “I thought for sure you where coming to...to scare me..”

“Well, I’ll admit, when I saw another person there, that was my original intention. I was going to sneak up on you. But then I came closer, and I noticed..” his smile fell a little. “...you were crying.” 

She turned her head away from him, embarrassed. “Oh.. yeah. I-I just...wasn’t having a very good night.”

“I’m sorry… would you like to talk about it?” 

She shook her head. “No, thank you..it’s alright…” 

The two fell silent. Sally was still looking away from him. She knew what she wanted to ask next, she just hesitated first. 

“....Jack?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you dance with me?” 

She found the courage to look him in the face again. She found his smile returning as he gazed at her, answering her question with no problem.

“Dancing always makes  _ me _ feel better.” He tapped her shoulder. “Tell me, did it work?” 

Sally stared up at him, once more taken aback. He really did care, didn’t he? She found herself smiling too. 

“Yeah, actually.. It really did...thank you..”

“Of course… though, I do apologize, I hope I wasn’t too forward. I’d never wan’t to make you uncomfortable”

“Oh, no!” she shook her head. “Not at all! I was just confused. Why didn’t you tell me who you were? Maybe I wouldn’t have been so afraid if you had..”    
“Ah, yeah… sorry about that..” he rubbed the back of his neck. “I tend to not...talk very much in my Pumpkin King form. Just a habbit, I suppose..” 

“It’s alright. Like I said I… was just confused. Thank you for telling me.”

He nodded once to her, then turned and glanced at the moon, noticing how late it was getting. 

“Hm… I should get going…”   
“To where?” 

Jack smiled at her again, finding it cute how curious she was. 

“I like to hang out in the graveyard after a busy Halloween sometimes. It’s very peaceful to sit ontop the hill there.”   
“Oh…”

He paused for a moment, like he was thinking about something, and then he turned back towards her with another smile.    
“Would you like to join me?”

Sally blushed. “Oh..! Are you sure…? I don’t want to bother-”   
“Of course I’m sure. Some company would be a pleasure right now. What do you say?” 

The ragdoll looked at him and smiled. Her heart began to swell, her face continueing to tint pink.

“...Sure. Thank you.”

“Of course. Let’s be off then.” 

They continued down the trail together now. Sally couldn’t help but stare up at him. As they reached the gate, there was just one more thing she knew she needed to say to him.

“Happy Halloween, Jack.”

“Happy Halloween, Sally.” 


End file.
